Third trial begins for Laval woman accused of killing daughters
Posted September 13, 2023 12:40 pm.
Last Updated September 13, 2023 12:44 pm.
A third trial started Wednesday for a Laval woman convicted twice before of killing her daughters.
Last year Quebec Court of Appeal ordered the new trial for Adele Sorella, who has pleaded not guilty due to a mental disorder.
Sorella is facing second-degree murder charges. The Crown agreed to a judge-only trial.
No witnesses will be called; past witness testimony will be used.
Sorella was granted bail in July 2020 – amid her appeal – and is not being detained while on trial.
In 2019, she appealed the conviction by a jury for the March 2009 murders of her two daughters, nine-year-old Amanda and eight-year-old Sabrina.
Sorella was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for 10 years.
WATCH: Convicted Laval mother Adele Sorella appeals decision (April 3, 2019)
She was first convicted of first-degree murder in 2013, but that ruling was overturned on appeal in 2017 because of the trial judge’s refusal to accept an argument that organized crime could have played a part in the deaths.
Sorella’s husband and the girls’ father was Giuseppe De Vito, a man with ties to organized crime. He died in prison in 2013 after being poisoned.
The girls were found dead in their playroom with no signs of violence on their bodies.
The cause of their deaths has never been determined.
